Leaf Fest 2012 Mobilizes Community Volunteers & Helps the Parks Department Clean Up Western Queens' Waterfront Parks After Hurricane Sandy.
Thank you to the Forest Hills High School Key Club, Gabriel, ARF ARF, SubmissioN Impossible, the NYC Department of Parks & Recreation, Partnerships for Parks, countless volunteers, our event partners-the Astoria Park Alliance, Friends of Queensbridge Park and BIG! Compost for collecting leaves and cleaning up Astoria Park, Rainey Park and Queensbridge Park during our 4th Annual Leaf Fest. Though the leaves are still being weighed, the initial leaf count for ALL of the Leaf Fest Days is 12,910.3 pounds of leaves! These leaves are integral in making the nutrient-rich compost that BIG! Compost provides to the community and will grace Western Queens' tree beds and open spaces starting this spring.
Here is What's Happening This Week:
MONDAY, DECEMBER 17th:
Newtown Creek Alliance Post Hurricane Sandy Meeting with the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
6:30 pm
Newtown Creek WPCP Visitor Center
329 Greenpoint Avenue
Greenpoint, Brooklyn
During the peak of the storm, Newtown Creek flooded throughout Zones A, B and C, and some waterfront areas experienced several feet of water. Luckily, waters receded quickly for the most part, but cleanup for many will be challenging, and the industrial zone is dealing with damage to electrical systems and other equipment
Preliminary Agenda:
+ Welcome from Congress members and elected officials
+ US EPA on post-Sandy response
+ NCA presentation of independent sampling and impacts
+ Open forum on information gaps and future needs
Rainey Park is officially open! After a year of the park being closed due to greenway construction, Rainey is once again open to the public. Let us know what you think about the pedestrian/bike paths, new waterfront pathway and seating AND what other improvements you would like to see at Rainey.
New bike lane and bike racks on the north side of Rainey Park.
A new paved waterfront esplanade in Rainey Park.
TUESDAY, DECEMBER 18th:
Community Board 1-Queens Meeting
7pm
Astoria World Manor
25-22 Astoria Blvd.
Astoria, Queens
Learn about what is happening within your local community board. Community Board 1 includes the following neighborhoods: Astoria, Old Astoria, Long Island City, Queensbridge, Ditmars, Ravenswood, Steinway, Garden Bay and Woodside.
Community Board 1-Brooklyn Transportation Committee Meeting
6:30pm
Community Board 1 Transportation Committee Meeting
435 Graham Avenue
Williamsburg , Brooklyn
The CB1 Transportation Committee will be discussing and voting on plans for a section of the Brooklyn Waterfront Greenway along West Street in Greenpoint.
Big Changes are being proposed for Hallets Point.
Read more about the proposed Hallets Point development here and the draft Environmental Impact Statement here.
Public comments on the draft EIS are being accepted until December 26, 2012.
Comments can be mailed to:
Department of City Planning
22 Reade Street
Room 4E
New York, NY 10007-1216
T.A. Queens Volunteer Committee Hosts Lights in the Heights-Ride to the Ride!
4:15pm
Meet at Sweet Leaf
Corner of 11th Street & Jackson Ave
Hunters Point, Queens
On Sunday Dec 23rd, Times Up will hold its' annual "Lights In the Heights" ride, which goes to Dyker Heights, the land of million-watt over-the top Christmas lights.
If you do the whole ride it will be somewhere between 30 and 35 miles, although you can certainly opt for a subway ride back to Queens.
Heavy rain, extreme cold, snow, sleet, hail, tornadoes, hurricanes (not again!), dust storms, tsunamis, locusts, plague, and the end of the world on December 21 will cancel the ride
FRIENDS OF GANTRY NEIGHBORHOOD PARKS WANT YOUR INPUT!
The small playground on Southeast corner of 48th Avenue and 5th Street in Hunters Point has been padlocked for a couple of years now for safety reasons.
The playground included a sandbox for toddlers and is right next to a handball court.
Friends of Gantry has secured the pro bono services of a landscape architect to develop a new design for that area.
What would you like to see there? It is a small area compared to other parts of the park and measures approximately 31' x 47' and is gated.
Waterfront Vision Plan for Astoria & Long Island City, Queens
On Thursday, June 16th, we celebrated the release of The Waterfront Vision Plan for Astoria & Long Island City, Queens at the Noguchi Museum!
The Waterfront Vision Plan was created for the community and by the community with Green Shores NYC & The Trust for Public Land.
In the summer and fall of 2010, hundreds of Western Queens residents came together to participate in seven neighborhood listening sessions, two area-wide brainstorming sessions and a waterfront bus tour generating more than a thousand comments, ideas and solutions for creating a more connected, useful and beautiful waterfront.
BIG! COMPOST with the WESTERN QUEENS COMPOST INITIATIVE
The Western Queens Compost Initiative (WQCI), a program of Build It Green!NYC, works to increase the capacity of local communities to create and manage composting efforts in Western Queens. Their overall goal is to (1) provide sustainable local composting infrastructure; (2) educate New York City residents on the composting process and encourage them to compost organic materials; and (3) reduce the amount of waste sent to distant landfills. Their compost is used to grow food, feed trees, and beautify public spaces. .
Instead of adding your food scraps to the landfill, you can drop them off at the Western Queens Compost Initiative's weekly drop off locations:
Sunday:
9am to Noon
Jackson Heights Greenmarket
34th Ave at 77th Street
Jackson Heights, Queens
Monday:
7-10am
Queens Library Steinway Branch
Through March 22, 2013
21-45 31st Street
Astoria, Queens
Saturday:
9am-12pm
Sunnyside Greenmarket
June 2 to December 22
Skillman Ave between 42 & 43 Streets
Sunnyside, Queens
10am to 2pm
Long Island City CSA, Hour Children
Nov 7, Dec 1, 15, Jan 5, 19 & Feb 2
36-49 11th Street (btwn 36 & 37th Aves)
Long Island City, Queens
To learn more about BIG! Compost and to get involved, email: louise@bignyc.org
Newtown Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant Visitor Center General Public Visiting Hours
Saturdays
9am to 3pm
Visitor Center at Newtown Creek
329 Greenpoint Avenue
Greenpoint, Brooklyn
The Visitor Center at Newtown Creek tells the story of New York City’s water and wastewater systems. Located at the Newtown Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant (WTP), one of New York City's 14 treatment plants, the Visitor Center features DEP employees who narrate the cycle of water from water supply to distribution, wastewater treatment, and harbor water quality. This fascinating new facility will help you learn about the one billion gallons of water New Yorkers use every day, the thousands of miles of pipes, aqueducts, and water mains, and the responsibilities, through the eyes of our dedicated workforce, to serve New Yorkers.
Socrates Sculpture Park
Broadway & Vernon Blvd
Long Island City, Queens
Socrates Sculpture Park presents the opening of EAF12: 2012 Emerging Artist Fellowship Exhibition.
EAF12 features new works by the Park's current resident artists. Each year, Socrates Sculpture Park selects artists to produce outdoor artworks within the Park. Reflective of our time, these artists are making public sculptures that are subtly mysterious, visually compelling, and, at times, provocative. The economy, spirituality, Americana, language, and our built/natural world are subjects explored in this presentation of emerging artists to watch. Rather than being a zeitgeist or thematic exhibition, each artist has a distinct artwork (and in some cases performance) that embodies his or her individuality, passion, and exploration of art in the public sphere. Projects include a 1965 Ford Mustang painted white with corn rowed racing stripes, slabs of cast concrete snapped from compression, a transparent Buddha and a stunning 30 foot flag pole woven with security straps are among the sculptures in the exhibition.
Green Shores NYC works to enliven the Astoria-Long Island City waterfront by caring for and advocating for safe public parks, green spaces, street trees, waterways and a waterfront greenway. Visit us online at: www.greenshoresnyc.org
To include your event on our updates and calendar, please email: greenshoresnyc@yahoo.com and put "EVENTS" in the subject line.
